The strength of the connections that you can build between all those working within and with your business, and the business itself, will determine its competitive strength and success. This is not a once-off induction process but an ongoing endeavour that hopefully compounds the competitive strength of your business. With the return to office movement occurring worldwide, this is a perfect opportunity to commence new efforts to strengthen connections.
Active Knowledge Question:
How do you continually strengthen the connections within your business?
Competitiveness
Businesses should be continually investing in and building their competitive fitness. This competitiveness enables them to continually step out, evolve, and reinvent themselves and their offerings to outcompete all others in their chosen marketplace.
The essence of this competitive battle lies in the value delivered to customers. And, of course, value lies in meeting the needs of those customers more than anyone else can. This value is much more than price and reflects how well what it delivered fulfils and exceeds their needs. Reimagining the future, how change impacts customers’ needs not only today but into the future, lifting customer value to new levels and seeing opportunities before any others do are essential in being competitive.
The most crucial element in being competitive is the ability of leadership to muster and focus the combined talent and effort of every person who works within and with their business. As it is only if that core competitiveness is active, that the competitive fitness of a business will be developed, sustained, and compounded.
This ability of leadership is grounded in the building of connections.
Connections
The strength of connections arises from a belonging, a sense of purpose, a place that is yours, and pride and fulfilment that you can feel and know. Connections are not built through money or even titles, as these are tools of self-interest that only weaken connections.
Few business leaders focus on building the strength of connections that exist within their business as a profit-first motive tends to be their focus but to do so can seed an unstoppable momentum.
Competitive strength belongs to the business that can build, sustain and grow the most robust connections. Centripetal leadership is a starting point to seeding a culture of connections. Under such, leaders see themselves at the centre of a community, not at the top of a pyramid. And from that centre, they build a web/network of worthy leaders who see their prime task as enabling the potential of every person to be brought to the forefront.
This prime task causes a focus on connections and draws leaders back to the elements of the competitive engine that resides in every business. The action of the elements of the competitive engine expressed in their ‘right character’ will open, develop and build connections.
Competitive Engine Seeding Connections
Of the ten elements of the competitive engine that enable and underpin competitiveness, the ones most relevant to strengthening connections are:
- Purpose: A succinct purpose with which people can find a righteous meaning, connected with Customers’ needs and in which they may have a pride.
- Motive: A motive of competing, individually and as a business, to the greatest potential in delivering value to customers. And from which profit will be earned but of which profit is not the leading motive.
- Vision: A compelling vision of where the business is striving to reach. A quest that draws people in and entices them to give their all.
- Culture: A culture of community, inclusion and equity and the opportunity for every individual to excel.
- Rewards: Rewards and recognition are openly available to all those who excel no matter what their position in a business.
- Barriers: The active dismantling of barriers that hold people back from contributing and succeeding.
And, of course, worthy leadership to allow the competitive engine to thrive.
Champions Are Catalysts.
Successful people can have a profound effect on your business. They will be catalysts of strong positive connections throughout your business.
Bear in mind that successful people will likely exist at every level of your business, and we are not just referring to those people who have achieved leadership positions in your business. Success is far wider than that internal view.
A successful person can be a light within your business. They:
- Do not rely on others for their identity.
- Are open and strong and provide leadership.
- Understand the power of words and apply them accordingly.
- Adopt habits to reinforce their success.
- Grow and connect with other successful people.
- Are confident but never prideful or arrogant.
Successful people have an invaluable and critical leadership role. They:
- Develop other people’s ability to be successful.
- Connect people with the business’s purpose and goals at the individual, team, corporate and community levels.
- Lead by example and create a culture of success through being successful themselves.
You want to grow successful people in your business at all levels, and that success should not be defined by wealth, power and position. Such a view of success limits success to a handful of people within any business and undermines competitiveness.
The strength of the connections that people feel with your business will underpin the competitiveness of that business. Every effort made to build these connections will be ‘repaid’ ten-fold. The strength and nature of the connections should be such that people enjoy and find fulfilment in working with you.
An entirely new level of performance.
Want to become a part of the Entrepreneurs+ Community and learn how to make your business competitively fit? Join now.
All the best in the success of your business,
Richard Shrapnel
